Processors and growers had complained that strict testing rules for medical and recreational marijuana imposed by the state on Oct. 1 had created a backlog at testing labs, which led to pot product shortages at dispensaries.

Now, the state has imposed temporary rules that “significantly reduce the amount of testing that cannabis processors or producers have to undergo,” said Andre Ourso, Oregon Medical Marijuana Program manager for the Oregon Health Authority.

A report released this week by marijuana businesses said Oregon’s strict rules for pesticide testing could mean a $10 million drop in tax revenue from sales in the last four months of the year, according to The Associated Press. As of September, the state made $40 million in tax revenue from recreational marijuana.

The Health Authority had accredited 19 testing labs in Oregon, including three in Eugene. Ourso said the temporary rules established Friday by the Health Authority should lower the cost of testing and spur the marijuana market by ending the backlog while still ensuring reasonably safe pot.

The temporary rules expire May 30, 2017.

Shortages particularly affected concentrates and products containing extracts from marijuana, such as foods and lotions, said James Whymore, owner of Oregon Medigreen at Sixth Avenue and Lawrence Street in Eugene.

“We have no (lotions or ointments) at the moment because of that,” he said Friday.

The state began requiring more rigorous tests of marijuana flower, concentrate and extracts on Oct. 1, a year after recreation sales began in the state. The tests measure potency, pesticide and solvent contamination and mold or mildew tainting. Producers separate marijuana concentrate from plant matter with solvents, such as butane.

Ourso and Whymore, the dispensary owner, said marijuana flower has not been in short supply.

The high cost of lab tests and long waits caused marijuana processors and producers to scale back their operations, Ourso said, either halting production or laying off workers.

Due to the backlog at marijuana testing labs tests that should take less than a week have been taking up to three weeks, according to The Associated Press.

Rodger Voelker, lab director of one of the pesticide testing laboratories, Eugene’s OG Analytical, told the AP that the delays are a temporary growing pain of a new industry.

“I hear this constantly — people saying this is totally unfair, that they don’t expect this of anybody else,” Voelker said. “That’s actually completely wrong. These things are expected of any industry where people are putting things in their mouth.”